


Genealogy Lesson

by predilection



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: Gen, Identity Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 00:13:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8599429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/predilection/pseuds/predilection
Summary: Zach is kidnapped by Heckyl, who mistakes him for Ivan. Ivan comes to his rescue.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by and takes place after the episode "Freaky Fightday". In this episode, Ivan meets his descendant, Zach, who happens to look just like him.

As Zach walked towards the Dinosaur Museum to meet Ivan for lunch, he was understandably wary.

He was starting to suspect that Ivan wasn't actually his cousin. Zach had taken out his family tree -- one that had been painstakingly maintained by Zandar historians since the reign of King Colin -- and had tried to find Ivan on it. Though there were many Ivans on the tree, especially since the whole thing stemmed from the legendary knight Sir Ivan, the most recent Ivan to appear anywhere on the tree died twenty years ago. It made Zach wonder just who Ivan really was, especially since they looked so alike.

Zach was also wary because a guy wearing what looked like steampunk cosplay, complete with goggles, stepped directly into his path as he was approaching the museum entrance and demanded something called an "energem" from him. 

"Dude, I have no idea what you're even talking about," Zach told Steampunk Cosplay, brushing passed him.

Steampunk Cosplay didn't like that, because he roughly grabbed Zach's arm and then everything went dark.

The next thing Zach knew, he was waking up on a hard cement floor inside a large metal cage made of criss-crossing bars. The cage -- and what the hell, why was he in a cage? -- was in some sort of warehouse filled with tall wide shelves of unmarked cardboard boxes. He brought himself to his feet and felt his way along the cage's bars looking for a hatch or another way out. "Hello?" he called out, confused.

Two grey and black monsters with green hair stepped out from behind one of the shelves. They didn't have faces. Zach recognized them as the monsters the power rangers sometimes fought on the news. It hit him that he was in real danger, and his heart rate picked up speed.

"You're finally awake," someone said behind him, causing him to jump and turn around. Steampunk Cosplay was suddenly standing outside the cage.

"This isn't funny, man," Zach told him. His voice shook as he realized that Steampunk Cosplay had kidnapped him, and that given Steampunk Cosplay's connection to the monsters, that he probably wasn't a cosplayer. 

"I have to agree, especially since you're not wearing your energem." Steampunk Cosplay pressed his face into a gap between the cage's bars and hissed, "Where it is?"

Zach tried not to panic. "Ener-what? Look, man, I really have no idea what you're talking about. Let me out of here!" 

"Look, _Sir Ivan_ ," Steampunk Cosplay sneered mockingly, "you will not play these games with me."

"Sir Ivan? As in the famous knight of Zandar?" Except for the fact that he was trapped and being threatened, Zach was totally not following this conversation. "That dude's been dead for hundreds of years!"

Steampunk Cosplay narrowed his eyes at him. "Very funny. And now that you've brought it up, I may as well remind you that Fury isn't the only one who can seal you away for eight hundred years. I'd be more than happy to trap you again." Then his eyes went wide and his face contorted with rage as he shouted, "You will tell me the location of your energem!"

Before Zach could even formulate a reply, there was a loud explosion at the other end of the warehouse followed by the sounds of a skirmish. The two faceless monsters ran off but Zach barely noticed because Steampunk Cosplay was still shooting him death glares. "I'm not done with you," Steampunk Cosplay warned him and then he, too, stormed off in the direction of the fight. 

Zach took a moment to collect himself, sucking in deep breaths to try to calm down. He had been captured by a scary dude with goggles who wanted something from him that he didn't have and who thought he was... 

Did Steampunk Cosplay really think he was _the_ Sir Ivan? 

"Zach!"

Startled by the sound of his name, Zach lifted his head. Ivan, of all people, was running towards the cage.

"Ivan?" he asked in surprise. Ivan stopped in front of him and began examining the bars between them. "What are you doing here?"

Ivan smiled. "Rescuing you, of course. Stand back."

Zach did as he was told and Ivan pulled out a strange-looking navy and silver sword from inside his coat. He raised it into the air and swung it against the bars of the cage. Golden lightning appeared where the blade made contact with the metal, and when Ivan was done, the bars were cut cleanly in two. Ivan repeated the motion three more times at different angles until he had cut a hole in the cage wall that was large enough for an adult to easily walk through. Then Ivan beckoned Zach forward through the hole with one of his hands. "Come now. We must get you out of here before Heckyl returns."

"Heckyl?" Zach asked, realizing that he was probably talking about Steampunk Cosplay. 

"Hurry. There will be time for questions later," Ivan instructed, but as Zach followed Ivan out of the cage and through the warehouse, there was something Zach needed to know.

"Why are they after me?"

Ivan shot him a rueful look. "My apologies. That would be my fault as it is not you they are after."

It took Zach a moment to get what Ivan was implying. "These monsters are after _you_?" He looked Ivan up and down, trying to figure out why anyone would want to kidnap him, and then he remembered what Steampunk Cosplay -- Heckyl, apparently -- had said.

Heckyl had called Zach "Sir Ivan" and had made reference to him being sealed away for hundreds of years. Then Ivan, who shared the same name as the legendary knight, had said himself that he was the one Heckyl was after. 

Zach stopped walking. It wasn't possible and yet... 

Ivan, noticing that Zach had paused, stopped as well, and was eyeing Zach with concern. "Zach?"

"Heckyl thinks you're the original Sir Ivan from eight hundred years ago," Zach said quietly. 

Ivan frowned and Zach caught a glimpse of something that looked like pain flash across his features. Ivan opened his mouth to say something but then they were ambushed by five of the grey and black monsters. Ivan pushed Zach down behind a giant pile of boxes and told him to stay put. Before Zach could protest, Ivan raised his strange sword into the air and ran towards the monsters. Zach peered over the top of a box to see what Ivan was going to do and was surprised when Ivan used his sword to make quick work of the monsters. 

The second the grey and black monsters were all on the ground, Heckyl appeared in front of Ivan in a flash of blue light. "I see you've escaped," he said to Ivan. "But it won't be for long!" He raised his right hand into the air and light blue energy began swirling menacingly around it. Then he launched the ball of energy he had created straight at Ivan. Zach closed his eyes, fearing the worst, but just before he did, he saw Ivan touch a device on his wrist.

Zach heard the resulting explosion and felt the heat from it pass over him. He opened his eyes hesitantly, not wanting to see Ivan a charred mess on the ground. Instead, the gold power ranger was standing where Ivan had been moments before, Ivan's navy and silver sword held tightly in one hand. 

"Oh," Zach breathed as it all started to make sense. Ivan was a power ranger. It explained why monsters were after him and wanted something from him, and...

It didn't prove that Ivan was his great great blah blah blah grandfather, but it certainly made the idea more believable.

Five other power rangers showed up to help Ivan battle Heckyl, and more grey and black monsters appeared to fight them. Zach had trouble following the whole fight after it became a blur of colors though he noticed that the defeated monsters started flying into shelves, walls and the ground. The particular fight between Ivan and Heckyl was easier to follow. Ivan was deflecting Heckyl's energy blasts with his sword, and then he went the offensive, forcing Heckyl back. 

Even though Zach could tell the rangers were winning, he felt like he was holding his breath until the last of the grey and black monsters disappeared and Heckyl vanished while shouting something about revenge. 

Ivan, wearing the armor of the gold ranger, walked over to where Zach was hiding and asked, "Are you alright?"

For a moment, Zach could only stare at him in awe. Then he nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm okay."

"I'm glad that you are unharmed. I apologize again that you became involved in this." Ivan touched a device on his wrist -- the same one as earlier, Zach realized -- and in the blink of an eye, the armor disappeared, leaving Ivan staring down at him, his eyebrows pinched in concern.

Zach was having trouble processing everything that had happened and everything that he had learned in the past half hour. He was still in shock, and perhaps that explained why the next thing to come out of his mouth was: "You're a power ranger!"

"Ah, yes, I am," Ivan said, the edge of his lips quirking upwards into a small smile. He offered Zach a hand up and Zach accepted Ivan's offer, pulling himself to his feet. "You must keep that a secret though."

"Of course," Zach agreed. It was secret he was glad to keep, and Ivan being a power ranger was easy to accept compared to the other possible truth he had learned about him. "Are you really Sir Ivan?"

The small smile on Ivan's face fell as he nodded. 

"Holy shit! You're my great great blah blah blah grandfather!" Zach couldn't believe it. "Are you really eight hundred years old? What did Heckyl mean when he said you were sealed away?"

Ivan's frown deepened, and Zach saw another flash of pain momentarily take over his expression before Ivan looked away. "I'm still alive because I was sealed inside a monster for hundreds of years," Ivan replied, sounding more subdued than Zach had ever heard him. "I was only twenty-four when I was captured, and though I have memories of the time while I was trapped, I am still just twenty-four years of age." 

"Oh." All of a sudden, Ivan's anguish made a lot more sense. Being trapped against your will in a monster for centuries did not sound like a good time. If anything, it sounded awful. 

"I only had a year with my son before I was captured," Ivan continued, his eyes downcast, and it hit Zach that when Ivan had been imprisoned, he had lost his family in the process. 

Zach's mouth went dry. Ivan's behavior around him after they'd first met -- after they'd found out they were related -- suddenly made a lot more sense. He finally understood why Ivan had gone out of his way to spend as much time with Zach as possible despite not liking his art very much. He also understood why sometimes he'd catch Ivan staring at him with wide eyes that seemed too bright.

Zach couldn't even imagine what Ivan was going through. "I'm so sorry," he said at last.

Ivan was still frowning. "It is not something I wish to burden you with."

Zach opened his mouth to deny that it was a burden at all -- not something like this, not when it came to family -- when something chirped. Ivan pulled out a rectangular device from his jacket pocket and held it up to his face.

"Ivan, the other rangers need you," a voice said coming from the device. "Heckyl's sent a monster to the waterfront." Zach glanced around the warehouse and realized that the other power rangers were gone and had probably left a while ago. 

"On my way," Ivan said to the device before putting it back in his pocket. Then he stared into Zach's eyes, his gaze earnest, and grasped one of Zach's shoulders. "I will see to it that no more harm comes to you," he promised. He didn't wait for a reply. He let Zach go and began running towards the nearest of the warehouse's exits.

"Wait!" 

Ivan stopped and looked back at him over his shoulder. 

"I was just wondering..." Zach trailed off, thinking of Ivan's impossible story and of the separation and grief that came with it. "I have a family tree at home. My mom got it from the Royal Library of Zandar and I'm pretty sure it maps out all of your descendants. If you're free sometime, wanna come over and take a look at it?"

Ivan's eyes widened. "Such a document exists? And you have it?"

"Well, yeah. It takes up the whole dining room table when it's fully laid out."

Ivan audibly swallowed, but didn't say anything, and Zach worried that maybe he had offended Ivan somehow. After all, maybe Ivan didn't want to be reminded of all that he had lost. But then Ivan rested one of his arms across his own chest and offered Zach a small bow. "It would be my pleasure to join you," he said. When he straightened, he wore a small smile and his eyes were sparkling with a tenderness that made Zach's heart clench.

As Zach watched Ivan run out of the warehouse, he still had questions, was still disoriented from being kidnapped, and was still trying to process that his great great blah blah blah grandfather was alive and somehow also a power ranger. But he also knew for sure that Ivan was related to him, and looked forward to pointing himself out to Ivan on the family tree.


End file.
